Bill would nuke Visa cards, Adwords, DNS records for pirates

[ Thanks to Bernard Swiss for this link. ]

"Not only will the site have to be blocked by US-based DNS lookup services, but credit card processors will not be able to handle orders for US addresses. This provision was apparently modeled on the Russian AllofMP3 site, which was crippled after rightsholders cut off its access to major credit card processors. The third step looks mainly targeted at Google Adwords, which routinely appear on sites of a less-than-savory nature (and which have irritated rightsholders immensely).

"Together, the three penalties won't take down foreign sites or even prevent them from being accessed by the tech savvy, but it could cut off Pirate Bay access to most ordinary Americans. More importantly (from the rightsholders' point of view, at least), the US government will do all this free of charge.

"Today, a host of rightsholder groups including the RIAA, MPAA, and Screen Actors Guild, signed a letter claiming that they are all about the "free and open Internet." But rampant illegal activity is not what "freedom" is about.

""The legislation is carefully crafted to combat what Vice President Biden—a former Judiciary Committee Chairman—recognized as 'theft—flat, unadulterated theft'," said the letter."

Complete Story

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